Recent events have reinforced the need for a rapidly deployable hazard sensing and alert system that combines and provides advanced communication, sensing, and alert features. For example, the attacks of Sep. 11, 2001 and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster have illustrated certain deficiencies associated with existing technology.
In particular, one problem associated with certain existing hazard detection and alert systems is the struggle to provide accurate geo-location or other communication with remote units within a difficult signal propagation environment. Unfortunately, such difficult signal propagation environments are typically the places in which hazard sensing and alert systems are most valuable or desirable. For example, certain communication systems can fail to provide accurate geo-location or other communication within a large industrial plant, a mine, a heavily wooded area, an urban area with many tall buildings, in a ravine or canyon, underneath a large amount of rubble, or other difficult signal propagation environments.
Another problem associated with certain existing hazard detection and alert systems is a reliance upon existing communications infrastructure. For example, such systems may use WiFi hot spots, cellular telecommunication towers, or other existing communications infrastructure. However, in the event of a large scale natural disaster or other hazard, such existing communications infrastructure can be rendered locally or globally inoperable or otherwise unreliable due to destruction, overloading, or other potential problems including sabotage or other nefarious actions.
Furthermore, it has been shown that certain GPS-based systems can be cheaply and easily spoofed into providing a false location report. For example, by broadcasting a signal that is slightly more powerful than the actual GPS satellite and structured to match a normal GPS broadcast, a GPS receiver can be spoofed into reporting erroneous location information. Thus, if such GPS-based systems are used without further safeguards in the tracking of high value material such as nuclear or other hazardous material, the consequences of a spoofing attack could be disastrous, as the vehicles or storage containers being tracked could be thousands of miles from their actual location or expected route.
Therefore, rapid deployable global sensing hazard alert systems that combine and provide advanced communication, sensing, and alert features are desirable.